Higher salt intake poses risk of heart diseases

Higher salt intake in foods is posing a risk of cardiovascular diseases among a vast majority of population in Bangladesh.
Salt intake is 09 gram per day in Bangladesh against maximum 05 gram recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Higher intake of salt is associated with high blood pressure and result stroke, cardiovascular disease etc.
President and CEO of 'Resolve to Save Lives' Dr Tom Frieden said these citing some WHO data in his recent visit to Bangladesh.
Mr Frieden, also former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and former commissioner of the New York City Health Department, said $19 could be saved for every $1 spent on salt reduction efforts.
Talking to the FE, he said using lemon juice in cooking is one of best way to reduce use of salt.
"Comprehensive salt reduction strategies targeting the sources of salt can help reduce heart disease," he said while presenting a paper in a programme at a city hotel.
Some 99 per cent of adults worldwide consume more than the WHO-recommended maximum limit.
"Too much salt is deadly. At least 1.9 million deaths annually are attributed to excess sodium consumption," he added.
Globally, some 1.6 million lives could be saved each year by reducing salt intake by 30 per cent, he said.
Not only adults but also children are vulnerable to high blood pressure despite having no hypertension, he said.
Packaged foods, food consumed outside home and consumed at home should be taken care of though campaigns, framing effective service policies, front-of-package warning, mandatory sodium targets, marketing restrictions and fiscal policies, he recommended.
Healthy public food procurement, restaurant and canteen initiatives, healthy food distribution programme are also needed to save lives, he said.
Salt reduction intervention works in the United Kingdom when it imitated a nationwide programme in 2003-2004.
"During 2003-2014, a 19-percent reduction in population salt consumption coincided with a 32-percent reduction in stroke-related deaths, 36 per cent in ischemic heart disease-related deaths and notable decrease in blood pressure," he said.
Hypertension control initiative has already covered 182 upazila health complexes in Bangladesh in collaboration with NCDC, DGJS, NHFN and RTSL.
The initiative has helped to double the blood pressure control rate from 26 per cent to 52 per cent in Bangladesh.
A new app 'SIMPLE' is being used for real time information and improvement of more than 450,000 patients.
SDG 4 cannot be achieved without urgent progress in reducing CVD.
Less than 1.0 per cent of global funding is involved in control activities of CVD that causes 18 million deaths per year or one death every two seconds.
Heart disease and stroke kill Bangladeshis five times more than the next most common cause of death.
The WHO data show stroke kills 81.6 per cent females and 82.9 per cent males out of 0.1 million population in 2019.
Ischaemic heart disease kills 57.8 per cent females and 75.1 per cent males that year. However, 10.6 per cent female deaths were because of hypertensive heart disease.

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